Ulrich Kutschera is a professor of plant physiology and evolutionary biology who works at the University of Kassel, Germany, and as a Visiting Scientist in Stanford/Palo Alto, California, USA. He is the founder and head of "AK Evolutionbiologie", an association of evolutionary biologists in Germany. Kutschera is critical of creationism and intelligent design. Kutschera has been charged with incitement to commit hate crimes for his homophobic and sexist statements.
Education and career
Kutschera completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Freiburg, Germany, receiving a MS in zoology and evolutionary biology. In 1985, he received a doctorate degree in plant physiology. His thesis was awarded the Pfizer Research Award in 1986. Between 1985 and 1988, Kutschera was the recipient of a Humboldt-fellowship. He carried out his post-doctoral work at Stanford University and at Michigan State University. Kutschera was then employed at the University of Bonn as a research associate and thereafter as a lecturer. He began his professional career in 1993 at the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry as Full Professor and Head of a Department. In 2007, he joined the Research Groups of Z.-Y. Wang/W.R.Briggs in Stanford, California, as a Visiting Scientist. The ongoing cooperation with Winslow R. Briggs and co-workers on sunflower movements, etc., yielded a number of high-profile publications. Kutschera is an elected member of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany and the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. In 2002, he became head of the Arbeitskreis Evolutionsbiologie at the , and from 2004 to 2007 was vice president. In 2013, Kutschera was elected corresponding member of the Botanical Society of America, and, since 2015, he is a Scientific Advisor for the Agriculture-Food-Health Res. Comp. I-Cultiver Inc. based in Livermore, California, USA, and the Systems Biology Group in Palo Alto, California, USA.
Scientific work
Kutschera has studied the mechanism of phytohormone-mediated cell expansion. His contributions to the taxonomy and molecular phylogeny of aquatic annelids includes, for example, the discovery/description of the Golden Gate leech; he also revised the systematics of medicinal leeches and published a theory on the evolution of parental care in the Hirudinea. Kutschera has written about evolution and creationism from historical and philosophical perspectives and the modern theory of biological evolution as an expanded synthesis, as well as the Synade-model of macroevolution. In 2008, Kutschera described the strict separation of scientific facts and theories from religious dogma in Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species as Darwin's philosophical imperative.
In 2003, Kutschera said, In 2007, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in San Francisco, US, when speaking about the spread of creationism in Europe, Kutschera said, In 2015, at the AAAS-meeting in San Jose, US, Kutschera argued that As a former member of the Giordano Bruno Foundation and Scientific Advisor of the German branch of the Richard Dawkins Foundation, Kutschera has defended biological evolution and humanistic naturalism against pseudoscientific claims. Ulrich Kutschera ranks among those academics in Germany who are restricted to lecture at state-sponsored universities in this country, due to his “politically incorrect” views on gender and other issues. In a recent article entitled “Protecting Academic Freedom”, Dieter Schönecker wrote that “It is an intellectual catastrophe when contentious people like Ulrich Kutschera, Martin van Creveld, Jörg Baberowski or Rainer Wendt are no longer allowed to speak at a German university without the moral police from the ‘imperium paternale’ being sent out on patrol.”
Publications
Kutschera has published ca. 300 scientific papers, many with co-authors from the US, such as Karl J. Niklas, Winslow R. Briggs, and David A. Weisblat, and ten books. Since 2010, he is the producer of a series of science videos for biology students, inclusive of the piano background music, see the Album Review of G. Lemco on KZSU-Stanford Radio. His academic textbook, Evolutionsbiologie has been translated into Russian and Portuguese. Kutschera's book Tatsache Evolution was a best-seller during the Year of Darwin 2009 and, like his monograph Das Gender-Paradoxon , the subject of controversial reports and discussions. In 2018, he published a critical analysis of the scientific validity of physiognomy, with reference to Darwin′s work on this topic. In January 2019, Kutschera’s Magnum Opus, the 712-pages textbook Physiologie der Pflanzen. Sensible Gewächse in Aktion was published. In a Book Review, Karl J. Niklas wrote that this volume, which provides a comprehensive summary of our current knowledge on the physiology and biochemistry of plants “… should be of value to general readers interested in the philosophy of science.” A few weeks before the book became available, a religious webzine published an article dealing with “Plant Intelligence”, a topic that was discussed in detail in Kutschera’s textbook.
